


Family Beginnings

by flightinflame



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Alternate Universe - Modern: Still Have Powers, Charles Xavier in a Wheelchair, Domestic Fluff, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:36:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26816716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flightinflame/pseuds/flightinflame
Summary: Charles and Erik are happy together on their own. But when Logan appears on their doorstep in the middle of the night with two children, they have to help.
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr & Pietro Maximoff & Wanda Maximoff & Charles Xavier, Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier
Comments: 19
Kudos: 121





	Family Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [librata](https://archiveofourown.org/users/librata/gifts).



> For Librata, and thank you to InsertSthMeaningful for their excellent betaing.

It started with a knock on the front door just after midnight, while Charles was getting comfortable in bed. He glanced at Erik and frowned. "I'll see who it is," he offered, closing his eyes and concentrating. After a moment his eyes snapped open, and he reached for his chair.

Erik held the chair steady with his powers as Charles transferred into it and the two of them hurried to the door.

"What is it?" Erik asked, frowning. Charles could feel his concern whirling, but he was too focused on the sensation of three minds outside the door to listen.

He reached the door, and Erik opened it to reveal Logan standing there, exhausted and chewing on a cigar. He looked between them and nodded. "You're here."

"Logan, it's midnight. This is our house," Erik reasoned with him. "We're exactly where we are meant to be, the question is... why are you here?"

Logan shrugged, reaching down and picking up a basket by his feet. "Call me the freakin' stork."

Charles reached for the basket, and Logan settled it with surprising tenderness on Charles's knees. Gazing inside, he saw two small children, clinging to each other in their sleep - one with brown hair and a strange red glow around her, the other with silver hair.

"They got abandoned." Logan shrugged. "People know my bar accepts muties. This woman walked up, and she smelled like trouble, scared. But she gave me the basket. Said that she couldn't do anything for them..."

"She abandoned them?" Erik asked, horrified. The tone of his voice made the silver haired one begin to fuss, and Charles shushed them gently.

"Didn't look like she had much choice. I tried to follow her, but... couldn't track her. She'd got in a taxi or something."

"And why are you here?" Erik frowned. Logan had been Charles's friend for a while, but Erik was still not quite sure what to make of the abrupt older man. Logan shrugged.

"My bar might be mutie friendly, but it's still got an age limit. I need customers that can hold up their own drinks and are toilet trained." He shrugged. "She left a note with them. She..." He reached out, gently adjusting the blanket to ensure the infants were comfortable. "She wanted them to have a good life. And I ain't equipped to give that, not to a baby. You two are." 

"Logan, we can't take on two children in the middle of the night," Charles protested, gazing at them.

"I can dump 'em outside the hospital if you'd rather. Just thought I'd give you first pick, 'cause it's not like they'll have much chance anywhere else."

"We'll take them," Erik said firmly, glancing at Charles as though challenging him to argue. "They need a home. A family."

"We'll sort out the paperwork tomorrow," Charles conceded, because he knew Erik well enough to recognise when he wouldn't back down. And because he didn't want to leave these two children with no one in the world on their side. 

Logan smirked, and turned to walk away. "Good luck, you two. You're gonna need it."

"You aren't going to come in?" Charles frowned. "I'd have thought you'd want to check these two settled in alright."

"I don't need to." Logan shrugged. "They're in good hands now. I'll come around later."

And with that, he left, leaving the two of them on the doorstep to their house, two babies resting against Charles's lap.

Charles turned and wheeled inside, pulling the envelope from the basket. He unfolded it carefully.

"Please care for little Wanda and Pietro. I cannot. Let them know that they were loved." There was no signature, and no date. Just their names.

Erik smiled at him softly. "How are they?"

"Asleep for now," Charles murmured. As though hearing his words, the little girl blinked awake, beginning to fuss. Charles picked her up and cradled her, trying to soothe the panic that was running through her mind. Baby thoughts were very intense, but he could tell that she was mostly just tired. He rocked her against his chest.

As he did that, the boy - Pietro - began to fuss, reaching out for the warmth of his sister's body.

"I'm sorry," Charles murmured, knowing the boy couldn't hear it. Erik scooped the child from the basket, rocking him in his own arms and singing a soft song under his breath. He looked over at Charles as Pietro settled. 

"They're ours now," Erik declared, as though it was that simple. As though the overwhelming love they felt for these children would be enough to defend them from all the harshness and cruelties the world would throw at them. Charles looked at the two of them and wondered if maybe it would be.

"Where are they going to sleep tonight?" Charles asked. Erik smiled, almost guiltily.

"You know that old copper bath you have?"

"Yes?"

"It's currently a crib." Erik projected an image of what he had done, using his metal-sense to reshape it into somewhere the children would be comfortable.

"It's a good use for it," Charles agreed. "Obviously we'll have to put in some blankets. And it can be in our room, because if they need us I want to be able to check on them."

"Sounds good." Erik turned to walk back to his room, shushing the little boy in his arms. "We're going to take care of these two."

"I know," Charles reassured, staring down at little Wanda whose nose twitched a little in her sleep. "I'll ask Hank to come and check them over first thing tomorrow, and then we'll need to get lawyers involved. But we'll keep them safe. I promise."

Erik placed Pietro in the improvised crib, kissing Charles's cheek, and then took Wanda to lay her down. The two of them clung to each other, like magnets, and Charles could sense Erik's deep affection for them.

_How could anyone have let them go, Charles?_

_They're safe now,_ Charles reassured him. _We'll give them the best life we can._

***

Erik was playing with Wanda while Pietro sat on Charles's lap, feeling utterly contented. Pietro and Wanda, his darling boy and girl, the best thing that had ever happened to him, along with meeting Charles. It had been three weeks since Logan had appeared on the doorstep, and they'd used that time to ensure that the children were legally theirs, that they had everything they needed.

The twins struggled to sleep through the night - one would wake and start sniffling, and then that would wake the other, and soon they'd end up howling. But Erik and Charles had got better at waking up, cuddling them and making sure they were comfortable, soothing them back to sleep. 

Charles was grinning to himself, Pietro resting on his knees. The sheer joy from Charles was overspilling, brushing against Erik's mind. 

"You look happy?" Erik asked, looking over at him fondly.

"I am," Charles answered. "Pietro was worried, and now that I'm holding him he feels safer. They know that we're their family, Erik. They're so little, and they... they know..." He pressed a kiss down onto Pietro's silver hair. "They know we're on their side."

"Of course they do." Erik frowned. "We're their parents."

"I just didn't realise that they were going to know that. I never felt safe around my parents." Charles's voice shook a little. "I didn't realise that they would feel differently. I didn't realise that I was going to be able to take care of them... like this. I knew I could afford everything they needed, provide for them, but..."

"You love them," Erik reassured, reaching up to squeeze Charles's wrist. He moved to lean his head against Charles's knee, looking up at him. "You love them, and they love you. Babies... need that love. They need affection - and you're giving our babies that."

Charles nodded, waving his hand in front of Pietro and letting him grab for it. "I made a spreadsheet of their favourite toys."

"You did what?"

"A spreadsheet. To keep track of it, make sure that they've got what they need, and so if they're fighting over their toys we can distract them-"

Erik chuckled softly, nuzzling Charles's knee. "Charles, they're babies. They can be distracted by anything."

"I don't want them to be upset... when they're upset, it's so loud. They hurt so bad..."

"But then they're happy, right?" Erik asked. "They're a month old. Dropping a teddy bear is the worst thing that has ever happened to them. But then their papa or their daddy picks it up, and that's the best thing."

Charles nodded slowly, gazing down at the two of them, reaching for Wanda. Erik handed her over and stood up himself, rolling his shoulders and stretching. "I'll go and make a picnic. It's a good day. We can sit in the garden."

"That sounds good," Charles agreed, rocking little Wanda against him. "They like the outside."

Erik grinned, knowing he couldn't argue with Charles about that. He went to set up the blankets and grab some food, then floated Charles's chair out and helped him down, Charles leaning against a tree with the children on his legs as Erik sat beside him, sharing out the picnic and then giving the babies their bottles. Charles looked more content than Erik had ever seen him, and that was a comfort. It was proof that Charles was doing well - that both of them were. 

Erik would never forget the kindness Logan showed in bringing them these children who needed a home . It would change everything, make everything better. He knew he was going to have to fight for them - life could be hard for young mutants. But he would. He'd support them every step of the way, and he knew as he did it, he would have Charles at his side. It was going to work out, for all of them, and they would be a family.

Charles leaned in and kissed him. _You're thinking very loudly. But you're right. We are, and the twins won't ever doubt that they're loved._

Erik could hear the sheer determination in Charles's words at that moment, how he was willing to fight to make it true. He looked down at his son and his daughter, and he knew that the four of them were going to be alright, whatever happened. They had each other. That was going to be enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you! Please do comment, it means so much to me.


End file.
